The invention relates to devices to facilitate lifesaving and particularly to victims who are choking. Choking is defined as the stopping of breath due to blockage by an obstruction. The obstruction would most likely be lodged in the trachea which is the tube extending from the larynx to the bronchi, by which air is carried to and from the lungs.
Heretofore, there has been no device to remove an obstruction from a trachea airway using a filter which permits passage of air while blocking liquid extracted from the throat of the victim as a result of suction applied to the device. A Texas Department of Health Resources pamphlet indicates that first aid measures now used for lifesaving of choking victims consists of: forcing a cough, bending a person over and giving them a hard slap between the shoulder blades, attempting to remove obstruction with the fingers, cutting a hole through the neck into the windpipe with a sharp object to create an emergency airway, and the best known method called the Heimlich Maneuver. This maneuver involves an abrupt upward squeeze of the choking victim's upper abdomen to expel the obstruction blocking the air passage. Using these above lifesaving measures, difficulties can occur such as: fear of being bitten, fear of germ transmission, and the fear of disease transmission such as AIDS or mononucleosis.
According to reports of the National Safety Council, foreign body obstruction of the airway ranks sixth as a cause of accidental death in the United States and accounts for approximately 3,000 to 4,000 deaths per year. A victim has approximately three minutes before blackout occurs and approximately five minutes before death may occur. It is said that approximately three out of five victims do not get to the hospital in time; therefore, a device is needed so that "on the spot" lifesaving can save numerous people from death by suffocation.